Source: Pettway shooting part of gang dispute

Wes Duplantier and Frank Juliano

Updated 9:57 am, Thursday, September 12, 2013

Youngsters arriving home from school stop to check out a memorial set up for shooting victim Christopher Pettway, who died in a shooting on Tuesday, at Reservoir and Trumbull Avenues on Wednesday September 11, 2013.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Women, who wished to not be identified, stop to check out a memorial set up for shooting victim Christopher Pettway, who died in a shooting on Tuesday, at Reservoir and Trumbull Avenues on Wednesday September 11, 2013.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Police stand guard near a memorial which was set up for shooting victim Christopher Pettway, who died in a shooting on Tuesday, at Reservoir and Trumbull Avenues on Wednesday September 11, 2013.
Photo: Christian Abraham

Customers sit outside Three Dollar Pizza right near a memorial which was set up for shooting victim Christopher Pettway, who died in a shooting on Tuesday, at Reservoir and Trumbull Avenues on Wednesday September 11, 2013.
Photo: Christian Abraham

A memorial for 26-year old Christopher Pettway at the corner of Trumbull and Reservoir avenues. Pettway was killed Sept. 10, 2013, in the first of three shootings in a 24-hour span.
Photo: Wes Duplantier

BRIDGEPORT -- Three gun battles in 24 hours have Bridgeport police and residents anxious that a gang war between rival East and West side gangs is flaring up again.

Police on Wednesday arrested a man they claim had a gun and wanted to seek revenge for a shooting in the North End that killed one person and wounded four others the day before.

Bridgeport resident Jalil Hill, 28, was arrested after a brief police chase early Wednesday and was detained on bail. Police said Hill wanted to retaliate for a shooting Tuesday afternoon that killed 26-year-old Bridgeport resident Christopher Pettway.

Police also identified the four other young men and teens shot in that incident. The Connecticut Post published those names earlier but they are being removed at the request of a family member. They range in age from 15 to 19.

Three were taken to the hospital from the scene and the fourth went to police headquarters Tuesday night and told detectives he was shot in the same incident, police said. He was brought to St. Vincent's Medical Center for treatment. The injuries to those four men are not considered life-threatening.

Sources said the shooting that killed Pettway was part of a larger gang dispute that has been going on for three years. They said Tuesday's incident might have been sparked by a fight over a girl.

At least one person in the neighborhood said plans for retaliation were being discussed on social networks. There was a heavy police presence along Trumbull Avenue on Wednesday evening as mourners gathered around a memorial set up for Pettway on the corner of Trumbull and Reservoir avenues.

About 100 candles lined a planter box around a sign for a nearby barbershop. The flickering light of the flames illuminated two large pictures of Pettway and a sign filled with loving signatures from friends, neighbors and family members saddened by his death.

Struggling to hold back tears before lighting some of the candles, Pettway's aunt, Tanya Hawkins, said Pettway had just been going to a nearby store when he was shot. She said he was killed trying to shield the four teens from gunfire.

"He was minding his own business and telling the other kids who got shot, `This isn't any place for you to be during the day, go to school, go do something with yourselves,' " she said. "All the other ones, they got shot, but they killed my nephew."

Speaking to Laws on the phone Wednesday evening, she said her son was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"It was not like he was out there doing something," Laws said. "He died a hero. He gave his life to other people's kids by scrambling to get them out of the gunfire. At the end of the day, he loved his family."

Police responded to two shootings Wednesday, at least one of which sources say was connected to Pettway's death.

At about 3:30 a.m., a man was shot in the leg on Reservoir Avenue near Cityview Avenue, police said. Trumbull police found a gunshot victim in a shopping center parking lot on Hawley Lane there at about 4 a.m., following reports of a white Jeep fleeing north from Bridgeport. The victim was identified as 23-year-old Sean Lawrence, and Bridgeport police spokesman Bill Kaempffer said he was being treated at St. Vincent's Medical Center.

Lawrence said he was good friends with Pettway, police said.

Police also responded to a report of a shooting Wednesday on Wood Avenue, near Norman and Iranistan avenues -- the city's third shooting incident in less than 24 hours.

Police received a report that five or six shots had been fired from a car at a group of young men walking along Wood Avenue. Kaempffer said 21-year-old Kevin Boyd was grazed with a bullet in the latest incident, shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday. He left the scene on his own and arrived at St. Vincent's Medical Center at about 2 p.m.

Kaempffer said Boyd's injuries are not considered life-threatening. It is not clear whether the shooting that wounded Boyd is related to the other two incidents.

Correction: An earlier version of this story that appeared online incorrectly stated that "Hill shot 23-year-old Sean Lawrence in the leg on Reservoir Avenue near Cityview Avenue, police spokesman Bill Kaempffer said." Hill has not been charged with shooting any victims and Kaempffer did not say that Hill had shot anyone.